Lessons on magic (part 1).

The ride was about an hour long and it took William and Aoi all the way to the outskirts of town and up a mountain road. One could see the rest of the city from so high up.

Aoi took Will to a secluded log cabin in the mountains. Not much foliage around, but what was there was pretty dry and brown. It wasn’t a particularly pretty scenery. The cabin was quite nice, small, rustic-looking and with a brick chimney on the side. Behind the cabin was something like a barn, about three times as big as the cabin itself, with the planks painted in a dark brown.

“What’s this place?” Will asked as Aoi parked the bike.

“Something like a training retreat.” Her tone sounded solemn. “It… belonged to one of my colleagues, and he was always happy to lend it to any who asked. I haven’t been here in a while.”

Will and Aoi went into the cabin. The furniture was pretty austere. Sofas arranged around the chimney, a wooden table with four seats around it next to the small kitchen, two bedrooms with two single beds each, a single, compact bathroom, and a half-empty pantry. Cozy and rustic, but Will couldn’t help but think it seemed almost like an afterthought. Everything one would need was here, but only to spend a few days at most, especially with no way to restock on supplies anywhere near. And to top it all off, the entire place was pretty dusty, clearly left unused for some time.

Aoi took a deep breath as she looked around. She seemed uncomfortable, and a little restless. If this place belonged to a colleague from the organization, then the chances that he was... Shit.

“Do you want to start the lecture immediately?” Will asked. “Because if not, I can help clean the place up.”

Aoi gave him a small, wry smile. “I’d appreciate that. Thank you.”

Cleaning took about 45 minutes between the two. Not much, since the place was really only dusty and not messy. It wasn’t even enough for either of them to break a sweat.

“…We can call it a warm-up, I suppose.”

“So how is this a training retreat?” Will asked. “Seems like a normal cabin to me.”

“Because it is,” Aoi admitted. “This is only a place to stay the night, rest and prepare meals. The real training spot is at the back.”

“The barn?”

Aoi nodded. “If you’re ready, then let’s head over there right now.”

She led Will to the building at the back, opening its double doors to reveal the entirely empty space inside. But the moment Will stepped inside, he felt his surroundings shift, like something was stifling the air.

“You noticed, right?” Aoi asked. “This place has a light enchantment that suppresses aether. It’s meant to make its use more difficult, and thus aid in training.”

‘I feel like someone put weights all over my body. It’s not constricting, but very annoying. I hate it.’

‘You think it’s dangerous to stay here?’

‘We’re strong enough to push through it if anything happens. Besides, I feel no ill intentions from her. Practicing with our powers here may be more efficient, so let’s stay.’

Aoi closed the doors and stepped up to the middle of the room as she unzipped her leather jacket and took it off. She was wearing a white tank top underneath.

“We’ll begin with the lecture then.” She took a deep breath and shot Will a serious look. “I need you to understand, however, that I’m not happy to do this. I shouldn’t be teaching magic to anyone, much less to someone as potentially dangerous as you. But my back is up against a wall. I asked for your help and you accepted. I’ll uphold my part of the deal.”

“I understand,” Will answered,

“Then let’s begin. First, there’s the basics of all magic. What do you think that is?”

“…Aether, right?”

“Correct. Think of aether as a lost fifth element. It’s no longer naturally found in our world, but it serves as the fuel for the creation of effects we would now consider supernatural. The ‘sexual energy’ you and Ishtar use, is just that: aether gained from…” Aoi sighed in resignation and her cheeks took a pinkish tint, “sexual activities.”

“Really? I would think it was more than that.”

“You’d be correct,” his teacher nodded. “One of the things that distinguish higher spirits such as Ishtar is that their nature influences their own power. As such, the Spirit of Lust’s powers are better suited for anything and everything that relates to sex.”

“And so the Spirit of Sloth’s powers are better suited to make people do everything for them.” Will grinned. “Our theory was right, Ishtar.”

‘Very nice. But let’s not get cocky. Now back to listening.’

“Pretty impressive that you’d realize that on your own,” Aoi praised. “But like I said, in the end, your powers are still based on aether as a fuel. Therefore, there’s nothing stopping you from learning regular, non-sexual magic.”

‘Booooo! Boring!’

‘When learning art, you learn anatomy to draw better tits, Ishtar.’

‘Okay. Point for you.’

“Now, what do you think non-sexual magic can do, William?”

“…” Will took a second to think it through. What kinds of things had he used sexual energy that weren’t for sex? “Strengthening the body. And make swords disappear, apparently," he said, remembering what Aoi had done before.

“That’s correct, but there so much more to it than that.” She put up her hands and lifted seven finger. “This isn’t entirely set in stone, but for ease of studying, we divide magic into seven types: Strengthening, Enchantment, Illusion, Restoration, Construction, Evocation, and Thaumaturgy.”

‘Seven types? Damn, I know less than I thought I did. Annoyingly humbling.’

‘Your ego is just way too high up.’

‘If we want to build an artificial body from scratch, then construction sounds like something to pay special attention to.’

‘We still don’t know what each one is about. You’re getting too excited.’

‘There’s a lot to learn, and a lot of things to practice! And I’ll be damned if I don’t find a sexual use for each one of these types.’